The KIPP impact on reading skills persists over time, but impacts on reading comprehension largely dissipate by grade 2.

This study builds on a previous study of KIPP elementary schools to estimate the impact of an offer of admission to a KIPP Pre-K program and explore whether any impacts persist as students advance beyond kindergarten. Mathematica found that the cumulative academic impacts of KIPP Pre-K and early elementary school are large and statistically significant after five years. The study also found suggestive evidence that KIPP Pre-K may provide an added benefit above and beyond that of KIPP elementary schools without Pre-K and that students who won an offer of admission to KIPP Pre-K appear to maintain an academic advantage over their peers who did not win such an offer on one of two measures of reading achievement as they complete grade 2. Taken together, these results provide preliminary evidence that KIPP Pre-K positively affects student achievement and the impact persists to some degree once students reach grade 2.